Herts and Cambs Reporter 10 Feb 1888: death on railway near Long Road crossing

A frightful accident took place on Thursday evening in last week on the G.E.R. line, near the crossing at the Long Road, in Trumpington parish. The engine driver of the 5.17 p.m. train from Cambridge, when within about six or seven hundred yards of the signal-box, saw a man walking on the line. It appears that the man was conscious that the train was very near to him, for he walked a short distance from off the track, and then almost as suddenly threw himself directly in front of the engine. The train was going at such a rate that it was impossible to pull it up, and the engine passing over the man decapitated him, besides doing shocking injuries to the feet and other parts of the body. The deceased man was afterwards identified and found to be Frank Bousfield Brackenbury. He was 33 years of age and resided with his father at Shouldham Thorpe, Norfolk. The inquest took place on Saturday, at the Railway Tavern, Great Shelford, by Mr. C.W. Palmer, County Coroner. William Thorpe Brackenbury, father of the deceased, a farmer, residing at Shouldham Thorpe, Norfolk, said that the deceased assisted him in his farming business. Witness last saw him alive on Thursday, at about a quarter to two o’clock. Having dined with them at half-past one, he mounted his horse and said he was going to ride to Downham Market, and witness never saw him again alive. At Downham Market, he told a groom that he was going to Cambridge, and should be back by the next train. He was witness’s “right hand.” He was always happy at home, and witness had never had a cross word with him. He left home in perfectly good spirits, —Henry Croft, an engine driver, in the employ of the G.E.R. Company, said he was the driver of the 5.15 p.m. train from Cambridge, on Thursday last. On approaching Martin’s crossing he saw a man going over the rails. He opened his whistle, and the deceased walked across the rails. As the witness proceeded, the deceased got clear of the rails, but as he arrived almost on to him he deliberately turned back and stood on the fourfoot-way, and the engine struck him and passed over him. Witness was running about 30 miles per hour. It was so clear that he could observe the deceased’s face, and he was sorry to say he could see it now. Witness stopped his engine as soon as it was possible, and assisted in picking up the body, and it was brought to Shelford in the brake. The head was completely severed. —Some conversation then took place between the Coroner and the father and brother of the deceased, from which it appeared that the deceased suffered from indigestion, and during that complaint fits of dizziness came over him. He was a young man fond of life, and fond of all kinds of athletic sports, and the family could not conceive that he committed suicide. The Coroner said he should suggest to the jury that the deceased lost his nerve and was accidentally killed. For he must remind them that before they could come to the conclusion that he committed suicide they must find some motive for his so doing, or that his mind was in a state of temporary insanity. The jury found a verdict in accordance with the above facts and that there was no evidence as to the state of mind of deceased at the time.